Celtics basketball extends way beyond Boston, and Maine is ready to prove it

BRIGHTON — It’s nearly impossible to have consistency in the G League. The Boston Celtics brought back almost everyone from their 2024 NBA Championship roster, but the Maine Celtics are constantly changing parts. JD Davison and Drew Peterson will be back for the upcoming season, as will Jordan Schakel and Donald Carey, but that’s it. Everything else is different.

Jordan Walsh and Neemias Queta seem primed to spend more time with the big club this season, All-Defensive big man Kylor Kelley is gone, and Maine is set to have their third head coach in three years. Tyler Lashbrook, who was a player development coach in Boston last season, will take the reins.

But while Boston and Maine may be operating within two very different set of circumstances, they are still one.

From Boston to Maine, the Celtics organization is one

For some teams around the league, G League affiliates effectively run their own ship. The players and coaches operate individualistically. And up until a couple of years ago, some franchises didn’t even have a G League program.

That’s not the case for the Celtics. The nearly two-hour drive from Boston to Portland isn’t enough to divide the winningest organization in the NBA.

“We're trying to have as much vertical, top-down symmetry as possible in a lot of different ways,” Lashbrook said after Maine’s practice on Thursday. “And then there are some other ways that we have to be a little bit creative and figure out how we're going to do stuff.

“That's one of the things that I've learned from Joe. Just being around him is the energy that they bring every day, and he brings it, and his staff brings it every day. It's something that we want to do. And we feel like the two organizations are all one.”

When Maine changed their name from the Red Claws to the Celtics in 2021, it signified more than the branding. Maine kept their mascots, they kept the lobster, and they kept their identity. But now, the Celtics are one.

“Everything's so naturally interchangeable within this organization,” Peterson said. “Top-down across front office, staff, in Boston and in Maine, there are just a lot of interchangeable parts.”

As Maine prepares to open their season on November 8, they’re aiming to mimic the success that Boston saw this past season.

They made it all the way to the G League finals last season under head coach Blaine Mueller, who joined Charles Lee on the Charlotte Hornets coaching staff this summer. 

It was the first time Maine had ever reached the G League Finals, but it was far from a flash in the pan. Regardless of the moving parts and new-look roster, Lashbrook refuses to approach the game any other way.

“Tyler kind of talked to all of us and kind of said, 'That's the standard,'” said Anton Watson, who the Celtics signed to a two-way contract this summer. “And we definitely have the players capable of doing that, so that's the mindset going into this season.”

Lashbrook and the G League Celtics made the trip down to Boston for a couple of days while the big-league squad has been on the road. They’ve been practicing at the Auerbach Center in preparation for their season opener against the Long Island Nets on November 8.

And just Boston’s training camp was one of the hardest Jaylen Brown has been a part of, Maine is been taking the same approach.

“Some of the guys in there have even said that it's one of the most competitive camps that they've been a part of at any level," Lashbrook said. “Those first three days, I told you guys I really appreciated their efforts, because it was a hard camp. 

“We asked a lot of them physically, and they gave it to us, and they got better, and it was one of the more competitive settings that I've been in.”

Joe Mazzulla is one-of-one. His unique coaching style cannot be replicated. But his ferocity can be.

From the media section of the Auerbach Center, the Maine Celtics could be heard screaming and hustling. Though it was a closed practice, the action and intensity seeped through the walls.

Lashbrook has spoken to Mazzulla about the upcoming season, but evidently, his advice was unsuitable for the public knowledge.

“No advice that I want to share,” Lashbrook said.

From Lashbrook to Mueller to Alex Barlow, who led Maine in the 2021-22 season, the Celtics organization has entrusted the G League team with people who know the system. Even Jarrell Christian, who is the current GM up in Maine, was the head coach prior to his promotion.

Celtics basketball goes way beyond Boston. Two hours north, to be exact.

“Obviously, all three of those guys have the Boston mentality,” Davison said. “We've been with each other all summer, so they know how Boston plays, so they just carry on from there to Maine.”

While the sides play different seasons with different records and different rosters, the goal is the same—win.

And while the guys on the G League roster play with the dream of making it to the NBA, the success stories are staring them in the face. In the last few years alone, guys like Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, Walsh, and Queta have all transitioned from Maine to Boston.

It’s a journey that Lashbrook has emphasized from the very start of training camp.

“We actually did that the first time we ever met,” Lashbrook said. “Before we ever practiced, it was like, 'This is the vision, [these are] the most recent examples of success here, and this is the plan for you guys.' So it's tremendously helpful, and it gets a lot of buy-in, and the guys really appreciate it and understand it.”

Boston kicked off its season with a ring ceremony. Davison wishes he could wear his every day. Peterson’s mom took his down to Florida for safekeeping. But it was a perfect vision to put in front of Maine ahead of the year.

The NBA Champs will be looking to repeat this season, but Maine is still chasing its first title.

So, as they were practicing at the Auerbach Center, staring a freshly hung 2024 NBA Championship banner in the face, it was exactly what they needed.

“It's an extra level of motivation,” said Peterson. “I think the biggest thing is, anytime you're around here, you see the banners up, you see the access to all the stuff you have, and you kind of know you got to take care of business to be able to continue to work your way up and stuff like that. 

“But I think we've done a great job this year of providing the resources in Maine to an extent of what you can get in Boston. And I think, top to bottom, our staff has been incredible at helping us and giving us all the right tools to succeed.”